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Public Relations
In a world awash in apologies from actors, athletes and politicians, businesses remain laggards when it comes to saying those words.
In this writer's experience, voters and consumers are forgiving. They are profoundly aware of the tendency of humans to have human failings, being human beings themselves. And, as long as mistakes are not being made all the time they will forgive and forget and move on.
Spicer, at 45 years of age, is no neophyte. He has served as press secretary to four Republican Congressmen. In short, he should know better. At a minimum, he should have known that he'd have about as much chance controlling his own destiny in a twitter-mad Trump White House as did those monkeys the Americans used to send into space to test the Mercury space capsules. Meaning none.
A fresh year is upon us with new opportunities and challenges in all areas of your life. One such vital area is public relations for your organization.
This year, in addition to the great work that we're doing on behalf of clients, let's make a commitment to look inward and focus on expertly communicating our own brand stories.
Pot. Dope. Weed. 420. Bud. Doobie. Toke. Even 15 years after marijuana was approved for legal medical use in Canada, the language describing it obscures, conceals and hides. Can cannabis shed its dubious and illicit past so that this compound can be looked at within a medical framework first, and a recreational one second?
When I explained to a journalist standing next to me on the red carpet, about to interview such-and-such star at a premiere, that I was a freelancer covering the event on my own dime, he was a bit dumbfounded. "Ah, so you're a backdoor journalist, then," he concluded. As much as the label bothered me, he was right.
There is no other way to describe it -- Justin Trudeau has been a public relations superstar from the very moment he took office as prime minister almost a year ago. However, just as September has shorter days and produces a tinge of frost in the evening air, this prolonged period of public basking in the sun may soon be coming to an end for our prime minister.
New digital personalities pop up daily and although we often hear about the PR behaviours that annoy bloggers and influencers, it's also important for us to recognize some of the shady influencer behaviours that can leave a communicator frustrated and far from their PR goals.
The press is aiding and abetting the PMO's strategy of image first, substance second, to the point that we can't seem to go a few days without seeing our country's leader in that all too common, casual photo op, reassuring Canadians that he is unlike his predecessor, Stephen Harper. We get it. Trudeau and Harper are different. Only, they do have one huge leadership component in common; both men have taken an element of public relations and used it as their main mechanism to influence public perception. In fact, both men have staked out their preferred piece of PR and taken it to heights previously unknown in the stale world of federal politics.
